The term Ordinance of Secession describes each of the documents drafted by the 11 Southern states that seceded from the Union prior to and during the early months of the Civil War. The ordinances were drafted and ratified during 1860 and 1861 by the individual states of South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. The ordinances described the rationale for secession in each state. Although Missouri and Kentucky remained in the Union, secessionists in those states drafted and approved ordinances as well.